The European Parliament’s constitutional affairs committee on March 21 backed new rules to make the next EU elections more European. The committee voted on a series of measures regarding how European political parties and foundations are managed. The proposals will now be voted on by the whole Parliament in the April Plenary session.
S&D Group Spokesperson for constitutional affairs, Mercedes Bresso, said:
“In the past, European election campaigns have been too focused on national politics, often acting as little more than a referendum on whatever government happens to be in power. This has led to growing disillusionment and a steadily declining turnout in EU elections. Today we backed a series of measures to reverse this trend, by strengthening the European element of political parties helping give citizens a clearer choice on different visions of Europe.
“Today’s vote will help to strengthen the Spitzenkandidat principle in next year’s European election, by introducing new and more effective rules for EU political parties. This will enable us to have true European parties and a true European election campaign. We will now have stronger rules to stop MEPs, MPs or national parties from supporting more than one European Political Party. We also pushed strongly for stricter rules on transparency and democratic accountability for political parties receiving EU contributions. There will now be an obligation for all national parties receiving EU funds to display their European party’s logo as well as their political programme on their website. These measures are a victory for our Group and for all those fighting for an open and democratic European Union.”
